A Real IRA car bomb injured 35 people in Banbridge, two weeks before the deadlier Omagh bombing, marking a surge of dissident republican violence after the Good Friday Agreement.
Key Facts
- Date
- 1 August 1998
- Explosive weight
- 500 lb (230 kg)
- Total injured
- 35 (33 civilians, 2 RUC officers)
- Estimated property damage
- £3.5 million
- Warning time given
- 20 minutes
- Perpetrator
- Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA)
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Following the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in April 1998, the Real Irish Republican Army, a dissident Irish republican splinter group opposed to the peace process, sought to destabilize the agreement through continued paramilitary violence, targeting civilian and commercial areas in Northern Ireland.
On 1 August 1998, a 500 lb car bomb concealed in a red Vauxhall Cavalier was detonated on Newry Street in Banbridge. A 20-minute telephone warning allowed partial evacuation, but the warning was deemed inadequate, and 35 people were injured. The blast caused approximately £3.5 million in damage to the town centre.
The bombing was the most destructive attack in Northern Ireland since the Good Friday Agreement. Two weeks later the Real IRA carried out the far deadlier Omagh bombing, killing 29 people. International condemnation following Omagh prompted the RIRA to declare a ceasefire shortly afterward, temporarily halting their campaign.